Last week Statistics New Zealand released its most recent national population estimates. They show that there are now 5.27 million people living in Aotearoa New Zealand. During the year ended September 2023, the population grew by 138,100 or 2.7 percent. Part of this rise was due to natural increase, that is, the number of births minus deaths, but most was the result of migration. Net migration – the number of migrant arrivals minus departures – was 118,800.
There are slightly more women than men in New Zealand – approximately 2,647,000 females compared with 2,621,000 males. The median age of females and males is 39 and 37 years respectively.
The estimated Māori population is now 904,100, which is 17.3 percent of the national population. The median age of Māori females is 27.9 years and that of Māori males is 25.8 years. These lower median ages compared with the national population show that the Māori population is younger.
It is interesting to look back at the growth in New Zealand’s population over the past 30 years. In 1993 it was 3.5 million and it increased to just over 4 million in 2003. The population first reached 5 million in 2019.
Vocabulary
release – in this context, release means to give out official information
estimates – an approximate calculation of the number or size of something
median – the middle number in a set of numbers